A PB Flounder –

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YakRunabout
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A PB Flounder –

Post by YakRunabout »

Drifting Yak and I headed out to the south side of West Bay early the other morning to see if the strong incoming tide would allow access to some areas that are often a bit shallow. We launched into fairly low water as we expected with water temp around 80 and moderate winds out of SW, 12mph or so. Baitfish were active, with glass minnows apparent, and birds active as well. The fish, on the other hand, were not so!

We fished some deeper water areas for a while, but had no fish action. We then moved into some marsh areas where we found that the incoming tide had not had much impact yet. So we headed towards the bay in search of some deeper water.

I approached an end of a geotube, with a water depth a bit over a foot and cast out past the end into what I thought would be deeper water on the bay side. I had an immediate hit and a run, taking line as I reeled. I figured this must be a red with that sort of run. I finally got it close and saw that it was a nice flounder! Another run or two and I had him in the net. Once in the boat he quieted down quickly. I got out my grips and lifted him to try to pry open that locked jaw – he did not like this and started flapping like crazy – he still had plenty of energy left. So I hugged him to me to keep him from flopping back into the water. I got him into the net again, but now one hand was all strapped down like a trussed chicken ready for the roaster! In his flopping around the braided line had done 4 or 5 wraps around my hand! So I untangled this and got the grips on him the 2nd time around. Once I got his mouth open I saw that he had completely swallowed the lure with just the eye of the hook visible. It took a bit of effort to get that out but finally did. On the board he measured in at 21”! A personal best for me!! Had not cleared 20” previously.

So we carried on, being freshly invigorated by the catch – finally some fish activity. But that action soon returned to its previous pace - if you can call zero a pace! We continued on to some new areas for us, finding more shallow water, lots of grass and redfish that did not want what we offered.

We also saw a bit of bird activity, both the feeding and the nesting type. We were, of course, looking for the feeding type, but could not miss the nesting going on as well (terns, oystercatcher). One behavior that I had not seen before was the defense put up by the common tern (common is our best guess, anyway). These terns were attacking other birds, such as chasing away a flying oystercatcher and diving at a crane.

This protective behavior was interesting until it turned on us. I was going through a small cut between grass islands when I realize that there is a lot of squawking going on around me. I look up in time to see one of these terns diving at me!
I move on and out of their concern when I hear some yelling from Mike and I look over and he is waving a rod around. I at first thought that he was trying to get my attention, but soon realized that he was trying defend himself from a flock a 2 or 3 dozen terns around him. They seemed to be in different groups, some on poop diving runs, some diving at his head and others just squawking away! The rods sticking up around him likely prevented any direct assault on his head!

Some other bird activity I noted was that of the brown pelicans with the laughing gulls. On our first arrival at the bay, we noted that there were some pelicans diving in one area a bit offshore. A while later they were still active there. So I went out that way to see what was keeping them occupied (turned out to be a slightly deeper channel). At this time there were just a few pelicans. On the way out there I was watching to see what they were doing and where and I saw that these two birds were paired up – the pelican lifting off the water and diving again after just a few seconds and the laughing gull following right along to see what he could pick up from the pelicans catch! Sometimes the gull landed on the water, other times on the pelicans head!

I did some research and found that this is a common behavior for these two but also common for other birds and animals. So of course this behavior has a name – kleptoparasitism! Nice word! Seems like a good word to know – you may know a kleptoparasite!

All in all an informative and interesting day, though a bit more fish action would have been nice.

Enjoy your next outing!!
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Mike and his friends!
Mike and his friends!
Mike and his friends - a bit zoomed-in
Mike and his friends - a bit zoomed-in
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Cityfisher
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Re: A PB Flounder –

Post by Cityfisher »

Good report and congrats on that personal best flounder. That's a big one!

Weekend before last I had the same kind of run in with the nesting terns. Terns are the meanest out of those coastal birds that's for sure. I came up on an island where they were and one tern came out to dive at me and sqawking like crazy. Then I heard it make some other kind of call and soon figured out what he was saying. After the other different kind of sound he made every other tern on that island (about a zillion) came at me. Hovering and sqwaking and dive bombing at my head. None hit me but I sure as heck got the message and got away from them! lol
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karstopo
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Re: A PB Flounder –

Post by karstopo »

Nice flounder. They have gone beserk on me in the kayak like yours did. One time, I subdued, or thought I did, an especially feisty one and then put it in the ice chest and it vibrated, flew out really, of the bottom of the chest before I could close the lid and out of the kayak to safety. Flounder are one of my favorite fish to catch because of their tricky way of fighting and avoiding capture.

Those terns are something. The little ones are bad enough. The big Royal or Caspian terns are downright dangerous. It's been a long time since I strayed too close to one of their nesting sites. I never thought about the different calls, but it makes sense.

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kickingback
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Re: A PB Flounder –

Post by kickingback »

Great report! Congrats on the PB! Always a great memory when you catch a hefty one like that! Well done!
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Drifting Yak
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Re: A PB Flounder –

Post by Drifting Yak »

Congrats on the PB flounder Ken! It was a beautiful beast!

And those birds were, well, way cool but also a little scary. Several dozen of them came up out of nowhere when I came thru a small cut. They started dive bombing me so I did the only thing I could do - haul ass! I felt like Zoro wielding my rod high like a sword trying to keep them at bay. It worked pretty well with their white splatting turds landing only a few feet away. Was thinking "Oh Lord please don't let that sh_t hit me!" And afterwards I thought "This is nature at its best".

Moments like these make you truly feel alive!
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